I have a contactor supplied by a plumber for a misting system. It is a Square D 8910DPA. Basically a 3 phase/1 phase contactor with a 24 V coil. It didn't have a wiring diagram and I haven't dealt with contactors before. My question is how do I get the coil to fire? Do I need an external power source?

Sounds like you need a 24V source to energize the coil, plus some way to control (ON/OFF) the 24V. You also need to confirm the 24V you're talking about is 24VAC as opposed to 24VDC. A 24VAC supply is pretty easy to provide, a 120V circuit feeding a 120V to 24V transformer. The 24V side of the transformer probably needs fuse protection sized to the transformer rating.

Radar

There are 10 types of people. Those who know binary, and those who don't.

Thank you for the help. I thought I would need an external power source like you mentioned Radar. I didn't feel like experimenting with the contactor and risk blowing it up or causing bigger problems. The mister is 240V 1 phase and I was going to ask the plumber to get a different contactor with a 240V coil but he left town for vacation this week. Easier for me to get a simple multi-tap transformer and be done with it. The other misting systems I helped install all had internal controllers but for some reason this one did not.

The contactor needs to have the single phase Hot 'snaked' through the contacts to equalise the overload 'heaters' if fitted- see my question posed 04 26 2005 under 'Motor Starter' ( currently on p. 9 ) for the good advise I got. Will a 240-24V transformer, plus casing, be cheaper than a new 240v coil?Alan